What are the activities of the Songkran Festival?

When the Songkran Festival comes, the Dai people are busy killing pigs, chickens and making wine. They also have to make many "rice cakes" and Baba made of various glutinous rice to eat during festivals. On the first day of the Songkran Festival, dragon boat races, soaring and cultural performances were held; Splash water the next day; On the third day, young men and women lost their bags together and exchanged materials.

In the dragon boat race, groups of dragon boats dressed in red and green clothes beat the waves in the sound of gongs and drums and shouts, adding a lot of tension and joy to the festival. Flying Gaosheng and Kongming Lantern is also a unique activity in Dai areas. People set up anti-aircraft gun racks before the festival, and then they will light homemade home-made rockets and let them roar into the blue sky. The higher and farther the stockade flies, the more glorious and auspicious people feel. In the evening, people lit lanterns and candles in the open space of the square, put them in homemade "balloons", and used the buoyancy of hot air to fly the "Kongming Lantern" into the sky to commemorate the ancient sage Kongming (Zhuge Liang). In addition, boat release, elephant foot drum dance, peacock dance and cockfighting are also activities during the Water-splashing Festival.

The most lively and interesting thing is splashing water. At the beginning, Dai girls said blessings while soaking bamboo leaves and branches in the water in the basin and splashing each other. People use copper bowls, washbasins and even buckets to hold water. In the streets, they play and chase, splashing water and laughing everywhere. After a period of water baptism, people form a circle and dance with the accompaniment of gongs and drums.

During the Songkran Festival, Dai youth like to play the game of losing packets in the open space in the forest. The flower bag is made of beautiful flower cloth and contains cotton paper, cottonseed and so on. , and decorated with five spikes at four corners and center. It is the token of love, and young men and women get to know each other through losing and receiving packages. After the girl consciously let the young man lose, the young man gave the girl the prepared gift, and both of them left the crowd and went to a secluded place to fall in love.